SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse

• Ncube gets newspaper apology

• South Africa tells Zimbabwe leaders 'enough is enough'

• Ncube interview: the truth about alleged 'doctoring' of power sharing document

• Ncube slams 'malicious' report over changes to power share document

• Tsvangirai drops passport demand ahead of summit

• SADC leaders recommend Home Affairs rotation

• Document: SADC communique on Zimbabwe deadlock

• SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse

• Arrests as protesters demand Zim cabinet

• Mbeki 'very optimistic' of Zimbabwe deal

• SADC leaders in Harare, seek end to cabinet impasse

• Motlanthe tells Tsvangirai to end boycott

• Tsvangirai performs U-turn on SADC summit

• Janah Ncube: patience with Mugabe, Tsvangirai wearing thin

• War veterans threaten action against Tsvangirai

• Zuma slams 'weird' move to deny Tsvangirai passport

• Solved: how Zimbabwe parties can fairly share ministries

• SADC summit postponed, moved to Harare

• Tsvangirai snubs King's offer to fly him to summit

Posted to the web: 10/11/2008 02:29:41
ZIMBABWE'S neighbours failed to break an impasse on forming a unity government, prompting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to appeal to the African Union to step in.

After 12 hours of closed-door talks, the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) failed to prod President Robert Mugabe into a compromise with Tsvangirai.

The summit's final communique called for the Zimbabwean rivals to form a unity government immediately and to share control of the disputed home affairs ministry, which oversees the police.

But Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in March elections, rejected their proposal as unworkable.

"This issue of co-sharing does not work. We have said so ourselves, we have rejected it, and that's the position," Tsvangirai told reporters.

Tsvangirai said that his dispute with Mugabe was not only about the ministry of home affairs, but striking a fair balance of power in the unity government.

"It is about power sharing, it is about equitable power sharing, it is about giving the responsibility to the party that won an election and has compromised its position to share a government with a party that lost," he said.

"SADC approached this summit without any concrete strategy and did not have the courage and the decency to look Mr Mugabe in the eyes and tell him that his position was wrong," he said.

"Given this dangerous and precarious situation and the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, we hope and pray that the guarantors of the agreement, in particular progressive members of SADC and the African Union, will now move very quickly to try and salvage the agreement," Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe left the summit without making any public comments.

SADC's executive secretary Tomaz Salomao simply called on the rivals to build trust and form a government -- without making any headway on removing the obstacles standing in their way.

"In due course the parties will learn to work together ... let's give them a chance," Salomao said. "Let's start with the inclusive government as a matter of urgency, meaning immediately."

Under the unity accord signed on September 15, 84-year-old Mugabe would remain as president while Tsvangirai would become prime minister.

Tsvangirai said he was still committed to the deal, but said he would not accept Mugabe's proposals for a cabinet that locks his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) out of critical posts.

Tsvangirai has accused the Mugabe regime of orchestrating attacks against his supporters following his victory in the March election, when they were forced into a runoff after Tsvangirai fell short of an outright majority.

The opposition leader pulled out of the run-off because of the violence, which Amnesty International says has left 180 dead and 9,000 injured.

The summit had opened with tough talk from South Africa, as President Kgalema Motlanthe urged both sides "to show political maturity" in finding a compromise.

"The historic power-sharing agreement remains the only vehicle to help extricate Zimbabwe from her socio-economic challenges," Motlanthe said.

The latest failed diplomatic effort -- which attracted only five leaders from the 15-nation bloc -- leaves Zimbabwe's people sinking deeper into a humanitarian crisis.

With inflation running at more than 231 million percent, half of the population requires emergency food aid while a breakdown in basic services has led to deadly outbreaks of cholera in the capital. - AFP
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